Suspension railway



May 23, I1950 w. c. .cox 2,508,748

SUSPENSION RAILWAY Filed Feb. 6, 1946 ample. 0" vll FIG. 2 FIG. '5 F|G 4INVENTOR.

WALTER c. cox

ATTORNEY Patented May 23, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUSPENSIONRAILWAY Walter C. Cox, Denver, Colo.

Application February 6, 1946, Serial No. 645,827

3 Claims. (Cl. 10S- 155) This invention relates to improvements insuspension railways and has for its object the production of a novelrailway track and means for suspending a car therefrom.

There are many places where railways are required where the businessdoes not justify the expense of building a regular railway and it is theobject of this invention to produce a simple construction of railwaythat can be readily be built in any place, regardless of the contour ofthe land, at a comparatively low cost.

The ordinary railway construction requires the rails to be laid on asolid road bed and limited quite strictly as to inclination or grade,and such construction requires much grading and other expensiveoperations.

The railway that forms the subject matter of this application does notrequire the ground to be graded and therefore removes one of the largestitems of expense in connection with railway construction.

This invention, briefly described, consists in providing a number ofinverted U-shaped supports that have their lower ends embedded in theground, preferably in concrete blocks, and whose upper or curved endsare cut, forming a central opening. Rails are positioned on oppositesides of Ythe opening and a railway car suspended from them.

The whole weight of the car is supported by the wheels that rest on therails and therefore a high friction is obtained that makes it possiblefor the car to travel over grades that would be prohibitive for arailway of ordinary construction.

Having thus stated the objects of the invention and, in a general way,its construction, the railway will now be described in greater detailand for this purpose reference will be had to the accompanying drawingin which the invention has been illustrated, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a short section of the railwaytrack with a car in position thereon;

Figure 2 is a front end elevation taken looking through plane 2-2,Figure 1;

. Figure 3 is a section taken on line 3-3, Figure 2, showing the partsto an enlarged scale; and

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4 4, Figure 3.

In the drawing reference numeral I designates the surface of the groundand reference numeral II the U-shaped supports, while reference numeralI2 designates the rails.

The supports are formed in the shape of an ordinary wire staple or aninverted U. The side members I3 extend into the surface of the groundand are preferably embedded in concrete blocks I4. The upper ends of thesupports are curved inwardly on the arc of a circle as indicated at I5.Transverse frame members I6 are provided, and, in addition thereto,diagonal braces I'I may be provided to hold the support from movinglaterally during operation.

It will be observed from Figure 4 that the supports are separated at thetop as indicated by reference numeral IS and secured to each oftheadjacent ends are rails I2. The rails may be of any suitableconstruction, but have been shown as formed somewhat like ordinaryrailway rails.

The car, which has been designated by reference numeral I9 in Figure 1,is provided with a floor 20, vertical side walls 2| and an arched roof22, which is curved about the same center as parts I5 of the supports.The car may be provided with passenger seats 23 `and suitable windows,if it is to be used for passenger travel. If the railway is to be usedmore particularly for freight, suitable modifications of the car aremade. Resting on the rails I2 in spaced relation, are two two-wheeltrucks, each truck comprising two wheels that have been designated byreference numeral 24 and which have inner and outer flanges 25. Thewheels are connected by an axle 26 that carries a sprocket wheel 2'I.The car is provided at a point above its center of gravity with atransversely extending shaft 28 that is journaled in bearings 29. Shaft28 carries a sprocket wheel Sil. A sprocket chain 3l encircles sprocketwheels 2l and 30 and serves both to support the weight of the car and totransmit power to wheels 2li. As shown in Figure 1, there are twosupporting trucks. Positioned within the chamber 32 is an engine 32a ofany suitable type, such as a Diesel or ordinary internal combustionengine or an electric motor. This is connected with shaft 28 and rotatesthe same. When shaft 28 rotates, it turns wheels 24 on their axles and,since these rest on the top rails I2, the car will move along the rails.As a safety feature, two steel links 33 interconnect shafts 26 and 23.The weight of the car is supported by the sprocket chains 3| duringoperation and links 34 do not ordinarily support any load. However, ifthe sprocket chain should break, the weight of the car will then besupported by the links which will prevent the end of the car fromdropping down, if a break ocu curs. The links are provided with oblongopenrigid bar 3ilthat "serves to mined spaced relation;

-terial are to be 'transported The sides of the car are provided withcon-v cave rails 36 and rubber tired wheels 3l may be mounted forrotation on the supporting frame. In case the car should move outwardly,due to i centrifugal force, or otherwise, the rails 36 will Y contactwith the wheels 31`and limit such out` ward movement to a predeterminedamount andY prevent the car from hitting the Vertical sup-A ports.

^ If aninternal combustion engine like a gasoline engine is'use'd, thepowerunit can be contained entirely inthe compartment '32. 'If anelectric motoris used, suitable'means comprising atroll ley fmust kbeVprovided totransmit' current 'to' the motor. i Although the invention'has been Villustrated.

--and used-'in connectionwith'a'passenger car,'it -is tobe understoodthat the car may be used for transportation of freight entirely and thatits shape 'may be varied so as to obtain the best re- ?As thistrain isintendedfor high speed travel,

Vthey car lispreferably'streamlined, but it may be ofanyshape desired.

^ The railway-is especially well adapted for use in mountainous regionsfor example, in a mining region, 'Tor carrying ore and other equipment'."The carbodymay'be of any length or'size desired. The windows which havebeen illustratedv in the drawing and designated by reference numerald38'may be` omitted; The trucks'are preferably interconnected by 'a keepthem in 'predeter- Attention is also Y"directed to the fact thatalthough the railway suitable for transporting passengers and freight,itis also of a construction that can vvbe used where small quantitiesof' maka'iid the" size can therefore v'be greatly varied.

"The truckshavebeen shown and described as having twowh'eeis each. "Itisl tobe understood 'that each `truck may havetwo pairs of4 wheelswhere` thisis found to be' desirable.

lPower may be transmitted to'one truck only, or to bothv asmay'bedesired. The endless power transmission *element 3i"'has`"been'shown`and' de'- scribed asia sprocket chain.` lIt lis tcibeunderstood, however; that any 4other equivalent power transmissionelement may be substituted, such, for example, as one or moreV-typebeltsor fiat belts, etc. Where sprocket wheels and sprocket chainsare mentionedythese-termsare-to be con# strued-to include Amechanicalequivalents.

=`-From Figure-4 it lwillfbe"observed that each wheel 24 has twoflanges,one engaging the inside and the other the outside of the correspondingrail.' vllanges 'l'.ikeep thefrailsV in properly spaced relation at falltimes andfprevent them from approaching each other orsp'reading.

i If it is found necessary or'desirable, the ends of the supports maybeinterconnected by a yoke 40 like that shown in Figure 2. The wheels mayhave rubber tires 4I, or the rails may have a rubber strip vulcanized totheir upper surfaces as indicated by numeral 42 in Figure 4. The rubbertires 5 and/or the rubber surfaced rails deaden sounds and make therailway practically noiseless.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A suspension railway comprising, a plurality .ofinverted'U-shapedsupports, the lower ends of vthe legs thereof. beingsec'urd t a railway bed and the arch of the U being arcuate and severedjrat the center thereof to form an opening, railway 4rails secured tothe supports on each side of the openings therein, a truck having atleast one :pair of: double flanged wheels mounted on the rails, acarbody positioned between the supports andrundernathithe arch, a shaftpositioned in the voar and mounted to rotate about an axis extendingtransversely thereof, means comprising a mpwrarried by .the Cari-forrotating the Shaft, inea-HS 'fjor ltreniftierqtary 'nio n 'from theShaft to the wheelsfaridfo supp A, ng' the car from 'theV truck',"compendless power a img mesenteric the l'eel'sarnd safetylinks ,ruckftoSlllppfort the transmission y in ,accordance with fine' ",U erased Sup'-the'car body 1 A, al veine'ntfthereof.

shaped supports 'the4 lower ends of vand thearcli o f th" AUbeirigvarcuate. and severed tithe center thereof toorril, entregara', railwayrails -secured itofth-y supports on e opening'ther'ein,twotriik's'mimais interconnecting ,the-tru spaced 'rel tion," ijlrf'k'ljiavAatleast'cne "Wheelsthiigesserifirigfto hbld the X ils" from relativetfansverse `r`ci'emerit.aspr k f i Depentientes" the space 'bet 'theverticai sides 'crime suppcrtsb'eiieatli'the arches thereof,A two shafts50 extending transyerselyl of thezcan spaced th'e saine distance" The-followifl refer aire -araefe'ecerd the file 'of this patent: Y

